My goodness — how do I start to come up with just a few cursory impressions following today’s race? The 96th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing was an absolutely phenomenal one that again left fans in suspense until the very last moment. In the end, Dario Franchitti won his third Indianapolis 500 in dramatic fashion as he battled Takuma Sato until the last lap and Sato’s race ended against the first turn wall.

From the very beginning, the DW12 chassis allowed the field of 33 to put on an incredible show with passing everywhere, high speeds, dramatic movement of drivers throughout the field and several incredible drives from throughout the pack. If there was a question of whether this new package would lead to good racing, those questions were answered within the first handful of laps.

Additionally, while many people had written off the Honda engines, they made qualifying seem like a distant memory with a dominating performance from their Ganassi, Rahal, and even Dale Coyne entries. When the race was on the line, the Chevrolet engines were no match for the long-time INDYCAR stalwart as sentimental favorite Tony Kanaan struggled to keep the leaders within sight.

One aspect that was hair-raising throughout the day was the restarts after every caution period. It appeared that new Race Director Beaux Barfield was adamant about restart acceleration not occurring prior to the exit of turn 4. The much slower restarts led to chaos throughout the bunched-up field and even allowed Tony Kanaan to jump from fifth to first on one restart.

I think the talking point from this race will be the final lap and whether Dario Franchitti cleanly raced Takuma Sato into turn 1 on lap 200. From my view, it appeared that Dario drove Sato into the grass and left him with nowhere to go. My initial thought was that it was very similar to the 198th lap of the 2006 Indianapolis 500, but instead of backing out like Hornish did to fight another lap, Sato pushed the issue and came out the loser. Tough luck, for sure.

And now, the wait until next year’s Indianapolis 500 begins. First, though, we’ll spend the next week or so dissecting this event and all of the remarkable stories coming from today’s incredible race.

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STEPH’S IMPRESSIONS:

Oh, look! After all the hang-wringing over the DW12 and the new engines going into this race (I’ll own up — mine included), the car and the drivers put on one of the best shows in recent memory. Imagine that!

This race had everything — a record number of lead changes, an Andretti in contention (and the rearing of the Curse’s ugly head yet again), an engine battle turned on its head, just enough mechanical attrition to keep everyone on their toes, and a couch-jumping, screaming-at-the-TV finish. The only thing the fan at home was left wanting was more.

ABC’s booth commentators were on NyQuil as usual (though Eddie Cheever being in the booth does help) and they did a poor job of covering just about every live restart, but even they couldn’t detract from what a great event this was. They did a fantastic job of the pre-race show, to be fair, and the tributes to Dan Wheldon throughout the event were done tastefully and in just the right amounts.

One thing specifically I would like to thank INDYCAR for: This race ended under yellow, and it should not have been any other way. If INDYCAR had implemented a green-white-checkered rule when changes were under consideration this off-season, this would have been the Indianapolis 510 or 515 and it would have cheapened the entire event in the name of falsified entertainment. The finish was thrilling just as it was, and Dario Franchitti won the Indianpolis 500 fair and square and has rightfully cemented his place among the legends. I’m eternally grateful that no gimmicky rules will allow that to be called into question.

Twitter doesn’t give me enough space to give my first impressions, so I’ll mooch off Paul and Steph to chirp.

1) Paul said, “From the very beginning, the DW12 chassis allowed the field of 33 to put on an incredible show …” I would agree with this if it was amended to “the field of 31,” because the Lotus machines were parked. I’m glad DD made mention of it in the post-race show and was in complete agreement with him. It would have been one thing if SDS/JA were constantly in everyone’s way, or they were causing near-misses or were being dangerous. Instead, IMO they were sent to the showers in a pre-emptive strike in a face-saving move by IndyCar to get their field of 33, with three engine manufacturers. I felt like it was cheap move and unfair to Lotus. Many of these drivers put up with Milka Duno at Indy. They could have put up with the Lotuses. Here’s to hoping Lotus gets their issues worked out and fields a competitive engine next season, because more competition is a good things for all players.

2) The race itself was OUT-FREAKING-STANDING. I always load my scanner with all 33 drivers and lock drivers out as they are eliminated or once they become several laps down. In the final third of the race I kept looking at the scoring pylon and thinking of how many drivers still had a car that could keep up with the leaders and were worth listening to. We’ll remember this race for the number of passes up front, but there were a TON of passes in the field, too. I can’t wait to watch the race on DVR!

3) If my recollection is correct, if DF and SD had continued their lead-swapping festival (and TS hadn’t become involved) at the end, SD would have probably passed DF on the final lap.

4) The final lap: I was sitting at the exit of pit lane in A Stand, so I had to watch the screen to see the cars coming at my spot, then watched as the cars passed my position. My initial reaction at the track is that Dario came down slightly as if to block, then gave Sato the smallest bit of room just before the entry into T1. From there (what I could see), Dario took a line that was about a half-lane lower from what he’d been running, giving Sato almost no room. I didn’t think there was any way Sato was going to be able to make it stick because he was so low and carrying so much speed. Major league ups to Sato for such a balls-to-the-wall move, though. He’ll be questioned for going for the pass there instead of T3, but, in the final lap of the greatest race on the planet, you’ve got to take the bone when you think you can get it, and he thought it was his time. I’ll never fault a driver for testicular fortitude. Ever.

5) The DW tributes were stirring. There was the video (I cried), and the sunglasses (have to admit I thought they were cheesy, but everyone around me put them on when asked and it made for a cool moment), and photos of Dan all around … but for me it was during the playing of Taps. That’s always a remarkable moment anyway, to have hundreds of thousands of people (some drunk) silent in one spot. Today, however, two-thirds of the way through the song, I heard an engine fire just on the outside of pit lane. I thought “what the heck?” Then as I’m trying to figure out what’s going on, the 98 comes out of nowhere. Holy. Crap. That was a moment I will never forget. It was perfect. My only wish is that it would have taken a full lap on the course instead of coming from behind pit lane, then enter pit lane as it came down the front stretch; even better would have been to have it on course for the first parade lap. Of course, having TK/SD/DF cross the line together in 1-2-3 was awesome. Somewhere I know Dan was smiling.

6) The pre-race: Martina McBride was awesome and I’d be just fine with having her sing it every year. Flo was grand, as always. The invocation was EPIC (AAAAaaaamen!). I have a grade of C on Jim Nabors only because the video just kind of started playing out of nowhere. And I’m still trying to figure out just WTH Howie Mandell’s role today was.

7) Have to give a thumbs-down to the many people (from my seat there were FAR more boos than cheers) who were booing Dario. As I tweeted, I wonder if they were booing Dario in October as he sat in his car, uncontrollably sobbing after losing one of his best friends. I don’t think many people noticed that Susie Wheldon was riding in the pace car with Dario and Ashley after the race … while the boo-birds were still loudly singing their song as he rolled past. It was pathetic.

I’m already looking forward to next May. It’ll be hard to top this year’s race!!!

Ok up front I am NOT a fan of Franchitti, never have been. Having said that you could bet he wasn’t going to give Sato an inch in that corner. He made sure he would get caught in that transition below the white line. Kudos to Taku for going for it, he had the car. So that’s Dario’s 3rd yellow flag win. When they stuck the mic in Ashley’s face, & I knew they would, that’s when I left the room. I’m sure she was the reason on Carb Day that Mike Hull finally listened to her on how to set up the 9 & 10.
Props to ABC with the pre-race, but I’ll stop there. These are the worst 3 men in any racing booth. A couple re-starts were missed coming back from commercial. we have to listen to that bunch 4 more times.
I agree with Alan that the playing of taps & the sight of Daniel’s car was very emotional. It was essentially played for the men & women who gave their lives for our freedom, but a little piece I believe was meant for Dan.
Not sure if it was right or wrong to black flag SDS & JA for not meeting the speed %, but what I’m sure about is that it was an embarrassment for Lotus & sad day for Sim & Jean. I guess black flagging them saved them this embarrassment, so I think it was a compassionate move.
Jimmy came close to giving TK the car to fight Target & wish he had. When Tony came around in the front the crowd went absolutely wild.
Props to Oriol & JW for there performances. Except for Briscoe, Penske was a non issue. I thought before the green flag Helio was going to dominate the race, but I was sadly proven wrong. I think team Target are sandbaggers. They poor mouthed their cars for 3 weeks & finally “found” the set up on Carb Day, thanks to Ashley.I noticed a few stuck fuel nozzles & some exiting/tranny problems but otherwise I think the DW12 performed very well. So that’s my sour grapes assessment of the race.

The over-use of the slogan ‘Greatest Spectacle in Racing’, and that some appear to take it as fact rather than the marketing slogan it is, rather than looking at each race objectively, has been a personal pet peeve of mine for some time.
This year the race very much lived up to that title and showed me and others just why the place is revered the way it is. I’ll take some more of the same, please!

Was it Steph who tweeted that the DW12 is a keeper? Too right. What a car. Nobody cares that it is slower now!

I’m sad the UK coverage stuck with the London studio discussion rather than show the pre-race festivities, including all the songs, balloons, practically everything. Even Dan’s car was shown in replay. Part of the whole appeal of Indy is the way the pre-race builds – it has taken six years of watching for me to realise this – and Sky just had no idea.

What a turn around by Honda, Ganassi and RLL. Surely some of those teams were sandbagging in free practice! Very cleverly played if that’s the case, nobody had a clue. I loved the balance between power and fuel economy. I know it can’t last at every round but if we get this sort of competition spicing up the odd race I’ll be a happy bunny..

With all due respect to Paul and Steph (you know I love ya, 99), I’m not buying the ‘legend’ tag for Dario at Indy. Yes, he’s great , yes he’s a fan favorite and yes, a driver can’t choose the era in which he/she races, but a legend should win at least one 500 with his foot mashed on throttle.

Dario has done a fine job wheeling his car around the esteemed grounds. I’m not taking anything away from his accomplishments, I promise. But let’s step back and take a deep breath and realize that the true legends of the Brickyard have had to accomplish their goals in much tougher circumstances then being the guy in the lead when the rain came, or being in the lead when a yellow flag came out. Al, Sr. had to win in a car that was previously mothballed on a display floor and AJ had to drive blindly through a conflagration that ultimately claimed two lives to get wins. Mears had to race against some the the cagiest drivers in some of the most cleverly devised vehicles in an era where innovation was both welcome and embraced to reach his place among the titans of racing.

I’m not triyng in any way to diminish Mr. Franchitti’s accomplishments. Each win is to be recognized and appreciated for what it is. However, simply having three wins at 16th and Georgetown does not a legend make.

I hope he races long enough to join the greats. I just don’t think he’s among them………. yet.

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